


Just You and Me against the Universe

by ThatisneverThat



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Post revolution angst, They needed to talk okay, just a little one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28814070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatisneverThat/pseuds/ThatisneverThat
Summary: Post Revolution. Thirteen is sad. Yaz is sad. They talk.Idk where this came from, or whether it's any good, but it's here now. Just a short mini one-shot.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36





	Just You and Me against the Universe

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be honest I intended for this to be longer, but it wouldn't get longer so... now it's just this. I hope you enjoy it anyway?

_ "It's okay to be sad." _

Yaz's words ran around her head as they had been for hours. She had gone to sleep not long after the boys left, but The Doctor couldn't rest. All she'd done for years was sit or lie in that damn cell. Instead, she was back in her favourite spot tinkering with the TARDIS. She swung on her swing - great idea that was - fiddling with various wires as she did. 

Maybe it was okay to be sad, but she didn't have time to be sad. Sad was for people who weren’t busy, and she was busy. Lots to do - things to fix, places to go, people to- person.. person to look after. 

She looked over her shoulder towards the door. Yaz was just down the corridor, asleep. The Doctor knew that. She knew it. But, what if she wasn’t? They were still parked up in Sheffield, she could’ve left. The Doctor had been in the control room the whole time - she’d have seen her… right? But she’d been busy, Yaz could easily have snuck out. 

Except Yaz wouldn’t do that, she’d promised her and she always kept her promises. Her wonderful, reliable Yaz. The Doctor had seen the state of that other TARDIS. She hadn’t missed the sleeping bag on the floor, or the notes covering the walls. She hadn’t missed the emotion of the push Yaz had given her when she returned, or the looks her friend was giving her. They needed to talk, but they were both putting it off.

There was no knowing how long she’d been sitting there thinking this over, but she’d missed Yaz walking into the room. “Doctor?” 

The shock caused her to drop the tool she was holding and knock her head against the hanging pipe. “Oo, forgot that was there. Need to stop moving things around don’t I?” she looked up, “thought you were sleeping.” 

“I was, it’s morning now,” she pointed out.

“It is?” the Doctor replied, climbing out of the floor area and standing up to look at the screen.

Yaz nodded, “you know, for a Time Lord you’re pretty poor at keeping track of time,” she commented. 

“Don’t normally have to worry,” she shrugged. “So did you want to go somewhere? Plenty of options - got the whole universe to explore!” The Doctor started her usual dance around the console, but she couldn’t help but notice how Yaz hadn’t moved. “Or um… we don’t have to, if you wanted to go see your parents, I guess.” She started flicking some switches, nothing that really made any difference, but it was a distraction technique. Yaz still wasn’t moving. 

The quiet between them was practically deafening. If it wasn’t for the noises from the TARDIS, it would be deathly silent in that room. Both of them were staring at something other than each other, their thoughts louder than any noise the ship could make. The tension could be cut with a knife, maybe the same one that felt like it was going through her hearts. Maybe Yaz had changed her mind, maybe she would leave too. The Doctor wouldn’t blame her, all the pain she’d been through in the last 10 months. Maybe a good night’s sleep was all she needed to see things differently now the boys were gone. Maybe that’s why Yaz had suggested they stay on ground, because she was just biding her time. Maybe-

“How long were you there for?” 

Yaz’s voice broke the silence, and The Doctor almost gasped at the shock of her question.

“Doctor, how long? Because I was thinking last night and I never even considered it. Was it longer for you?” she asked. 

The question caught her off guard. Nobody had asked her that - except Jack, but he knew the answer. She didn’t expect them to ask her either, it wasn’t like she wanted the sympathy. Time was relative, after all. “A bit, I guess. Like you said - I’m pretty bad at keeping time.” 

“You’re an even worse liar,” Yaz replied, finally moving towards her. “How long, Doctor?” 

Still not daring to look up at her properly, The Doctor stared down at the console. “Few years I guess. Don’t know exactly. Jack said he’d spent nineteen getting to the cell next to me, so I suppose it was longer than that. Kept a tally on the wall, but I never counted it properly. Had some mates though - we chatted. Well I say chatted, it was more of a one way conversation mostly. Angela was great at jump scares, and Tiny… well, he still hadn’t learned not to try and bite through the cage when I left so I hope he’s getting on okay.” 

Then suddenly, Yaz was right beside her. When had she got so close? “You don’t have to pretend it was okay. I don’t have much experience about space prison, but I know a little about prison here and I’m imagining it’s worse.” 

“Not sure about that, spent a week in Wormwood scrubs once, that wasn’t much fun.” 

“Doctor please,” Yaz’s voice had got a little higher. “Stop deflecting, talk to me! You were there for years, alone…” Yaz paused, her voice almost breaking. “You can’t just forget that and move on.” 

The Doctor shook her head, “when you’re as old as I am, sometimes you do just have to forget things and move on Yasmin. Besides, you’re not exactly talking to me either, are you?” 

Maybe the use of her full name was a bit harsh, but by this point she wasn’t focussing on that. She took a couple of steps away from her, grabbing the screen to check a couple of things. “What are you on about?” Yaz replied. “It’s not me that’s always closed off!” 

“You think I didn’t see the other TARDIS?!” The Doctor finally raised her voice, losing her emotional control slightly. “Were you ever going to tell me? Or just ‘forget it ever happened’?” 

“That was a low blow,” Yaz spoke that through her teeth, before speaking up. “You were gone for ten months, what was I meant to do?!” 

“I believe I told you to live great lives, not sleep on the floor of a TARDIS,” she shook her head. “Did you go to work? See your family?!” 

“This isn’t about me, Doctor!” Yaz snapped back. 

“This is ALL about you Yaz!” The Doctor snapped louder, silencing her companion. In contrast, the next things she said were much quieter. “It’s always been about you. I thought about you everyday in that cell. In the silence, it always went back to you. I pictured you at work, getting through your probation with flying colours and fighting crime on the mean streets of Sheffield. Going home at night to your family, arguing with your sister. I had whole scenes in my head of you and the boys going for days out together, laughing like we always used to…” she sighed, sitting down on one of the hexagonal steps. “That’s how I kept going.” 

They were both slowly breaking their external walls they’d placed up. The Doctor was sitting, looking down at the step below her, refusing to show her face at this point. Yaz stayed where she had been, hands gripping the console rail. “Well I didn’t keep going. I couldn’t,” she muttered. “I tried. Ryan and Graham, they were able to slip right back into life. I did go home at first, and to work, but I was distracted. I missed a couple of shifts, or got distracted - used the computers to try and find information. In the end I- well, I told ‘em I’d lost someone and they put me on leave.” 

“Yaz…” The Doctor shook her head, finally lifting it and seeing Yaz gripping the console rail with all her strength. “I’m sorry, I screwed up. If I could go back and change it, turn up at the right time, I swear I would."   


“I know,” Yaz was almost whispering at this point to try and get her words out. “We both made mistakes.” She finally let go of the rail and moved to sit beside The Doctor. “You’re back now though.” 

The Doctor looked over to the TARDIS doors, where Ryan and Graham had walked out only 12 hours ago. “Just too late.” 

They fell into another silence, but this one was different. This was a shared moment between them, both acknowledging their sadness and failings, but maybe admitting to each other that they needed to let it out. They were sitting together, knees just touching and looking at the closed doors. The Doctor had her hands grasped, her fingers winding together in a nervous manner. Suddenly, in the silence, she felt her hands being separated and looked down to see Yaz’s left hand intercepting her right. 

Yaz slipped their fingers together, “it was just their time Doctor. They’re happy, you’ve got a lot to do with that.” 

“And are you happy, Yaz?” she asked, eyes now fixated on their hands. 

“I am now,” she replied. “We probably should’ve talked about this earlier, rather than avoiding each other shouldn't we?” 

The Doctor nodded, “probably yep. So you still want to stay?” 

“I’m going nowhere. It’s you and me against the universe now Doctor. We’ve got a lot of time to make up for.” Yaz smiled. The Doctor smiled too, but there was still a hint of hesitation, which Yaz seemed to pick up on. “You know, it’s still okay to be sad about them leaving? And about spending years alone. We just need to go through it together now.” 

“Together. Yeah, that sounds good.” 

“Always.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Now back to the AUs... hopefully I'll have something for you soon! In the meantime, check out my previous fic if you haven't already!


End file.
